Thin Line Between Love and Hate
by DigiXBot
Summary: Shikamaru thought that today would be another troublesome day. He didn't expect to see Sasuke brutally insulting one of his fangirls. Possible OOC. Originally on DeviantArt.


When people attempt to find the source of the Konoha Kunoichi Rebellion, many could trace it to 11 years after the Kyuubi attack, according to witness Nara Shikamaru.

His day began like any other. Forcefully awaken from his sleep by his alarm clock before sleeping again. Then forcefully awaken by his mother, cleaned up, given breakfast, and sent to the Academy.

"Troublesome mother," he muttered as he made his way to the Academy. He honestly would rather watch the clouds with his best friend Choji than spend the day listening to boring lessons (even if he does sleep through most of them).

His mind was, ironically, in the clouds as he calm down the path when he heard someone say "I want to speak with you."

Due to some sort of lingering curiosity, Shikamaru stopped and turned his bored gaze towards the source of the voice, almost hidden between the cluster of trees. The first he recognized quickly as Uchiha Sasuke, the last of his clan and the top student in the academy.

The second he only recognized by her pink hair. She was the civilian-born Haruno girl that Ino used to be friends with (And apparently they stopped because of their crush on Sasuke. How stupidly troublesome). What was her name again? It can't be something easy like Sakura-

"It's Sakura, right?" he heard Sasuke say.

"Y-yes," the girl replied, playing with the hem of her dress.

Huh, never mind them.

"I wanted to tell you something," the Uchiha continued. Shikamaru saw the girl's face become as pink as her hair.

' _What's going on?'_ He thought. He believed that Uchiha didn't care about his fangirls. So why was he did he look he was about to confess?

"I want you to know," Sasuke began. "That you are worthless."

The hope and joy radiating on the girl shattered immediately as horror took their place. "W-what?"

' _That, I didn't see coming.'_

"You're loud, you lack tact," Sasuke continued without missing a beat. "You're not even from a ninja clan. All you're good at is storing useless knowledge. No wonder that forehead is so big." Sakura flinched at that statement, tears threatening to pour out. "Between that and your pink hair, you be better off as cannon fodder than a true ninja." With that said, the Uchiha turned around and walked away, leaving to girl to collapse onto the grass.

Shikamaru could only stare at the incident in confusion. ' _It was clear that he never liked those girls by him, but to rebuke one of them like that,'_ he saw the girl start to cry, unable to rise up. ' _Don't go,'_ he says to himself. ' _Don't go…'_

Unfortunately, his conscious took over, and thus he went over to the crying girl.

"Oi," he said in his normal bored tone. "You okay?"

Sakura stiffened as she turned to the boy. "Y-yeah?" she responded as if it was a question.

She never thought it would go like this. The confident image she built after she was saved from her bullies by Ino years ago. But those hateful words destroyed that instantly.

The faces of Sasuke and her tormentors seemed to blend together now.

"W-why would he even say that?" She asked, more to herself than to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sighed as he sat next to her, too tired to continue standing up for this. "Cause he's a jerk."

Normally, a Sasuke-Fangirl would treat such a statement as blasphemy. But Sakura only nodded in agreement. "He is."

"Well, if you're feeling better…" Shikamaru was about to get up when he felt her grab onto her arms, gazing at him with a pleading look.

Shit. He was going to be here awhile.

* * *

The next moment was during the afternoon. Though he wasn't full of upbeat energy like say Naruto or Kiba, he was at least refreshed enough from his class-time naps.

However, his peaceful walk was interrupted by the shouting of a girl. "T-take that back!"

He turned and saw Uchiha Sasuke speaking, or rather berating, a girl he recognized as Hyuuga Hinata, heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. He knew her as the rather quiet wallflower who instead of adoring Sasuke like the rest of the shee-girls, cared deeply for the dead-last Uzumaki Naruto (who of course was completely unaware).

Which begs the question, why was Sasuke speaking to her?

"I'm speaking the truth. As long as you place that dobe on the pedestal, you can never get stronger." He frowned. "Though at the rate you go, I doubt it'll change either way. Guess the fate of the Hyuuga clan is to fall." And with that he left, leaving with the same dry expression as this morning as if he was making a mission report instead of breaking apart a young girl.

Once again, Shikamaru's conscious guided him to the crying girl, who clenched her fist in a mixture of volatile emotions.

"What did he say to you?" he asked dryly, hoping that the girl would keep quiet.

He was quickly proven wrong. "S-Sasuke, he came over to ridicule me," she answered clearly. "He mocked N-Naruto-kun and told me that as long as I admire him, I can't get strong. That I don't have the drive and will to be a ninja."

It wasn't the first time Hinata heard such a comment about her weaknesses. Many of her clansmen, including her father Hiashi and her cousin Neji has ridiculed her kind-hearted nature.

But hearing the Uchiha say those words, and more importantly about Naruto, the boy who inspires her to become stronger her own way, was the same as feeling knives jabbed straight into her chest.

Shikamaru sighed. "Just ignore him. You shouldn't let his word or anyone else's words get to you. It's far too troublesome to worry about what other people think."

Hinata sniffled as she tried to stop her tears. "T-thank you, Shikamaru-kun."

"Yeah," he was just about to leave when she suddenly hugged him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Not again," he groaned.

* * *

Despite having been trapped by two girls while making them feel better, Shikamaru choose not to confront Sasuke immediately. He did came to check on the girls that the Uchiha left a crying mess after each spout of his words, but this time he made sure to move away quickly before they tried to grab onto him.

However, that changed three days after the first incident.

Shikamaru's mom sent the boy over to the Yamanaka home to check up on a flower delivery for a relative of his. According to her, he needed to go outside instead of laying around in the house.

"Troublesome parent," Shikamaru mumbled. Why was it that his dad, and pretty much most male relatives, married a troublesome woman. Luckily, he knew he'll avoid that fate.

* * *

In Suna, a girl whose hair was tied into blonde pigtails suddenly sneezed.

"Shit, Temari!" A boy wearing a black robe and face-paint shouted. "You wanted to get Gaara to kill you?!" he pointed to the red-haired boy standing deathly still in front of him.

"I didn't sneeze on purpose!"

* * *

He suddenly stopped when he saw Sasuke approaching Ino, who was setting up flowers to sell at the family's shop.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun!" Ino greeted at the arriving boy.

' _Shit!'_ For once in his life, Shikamaru started to run, hoping to keep that Uchiha's mouth shut.

"Hn, you run a flower shop?" Sasuke asked, causing Shikamaru to stop.

Ino took no notice of his disinterested tone and smiled. "Actually, it's my parents shop."

Wait, was Sasuke not about to insult her...

"Well, at least you have a fall back career when your ninja career inevitably fails."

Never mind.

Ino's face froze confusion. "I-I'm sorry?"

"You're a clan heir, and yet you're nothing more than a loud, pestering girl," Sasuke continued. "You're vain and childish. You focus more on your looks than training. You might be a clan child, but you're no different than the rest of the civilians girls."

Ino clenched her fist. "Take, take that back!" She yelled, her voice quivering between pain and anger.

"Why should I, knowing that it's-"

SLAP!

Shikamaru blinked in surprise when he saw Ino's hand slam into the Uchiha's face. But Sasuke remained unfazed by the new bruise as he glared at the crying blonde. "Is that it? Pathetic. All that anger and that's all you can accomplish." And with that, he left.

Shikamaru came over and place a hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch and turn to him with eyes mixed with tears and rage. "What do you want?"

"I just want to check up," he dryly said back. "Don't be so troublesome."

She then frowned. "I'm sorry, Shikamaru, it's just," she gritted her teeth. "Was he always like that?"

"A jerk?"

"Exactly."

"Well, now you know better." Shikamaru was about to leave when he felt his arm being grabbed.

' _How does Choji do this nice thing? Urg, I need to stop this fast.'_

* * *

"Oi, Uchiha!" Sasuke stopped as he saw the Nara heir approaching him.

"Leave me alone," Sasuke grunted.

"I want answers, now," Shikamaru said coldly.

"Since when do you do work, Nara?"

"Since I had to deal with all the crying girls you left behind," Shikamaru said. "Now I want to know, why?"

"Why?"

"You're not the type of person that gets an enjoyment of causing pain," The Nara explained. "You also seemed bothered to deliver those statements. I want to know what your end game is."

"You want to know?"

"Stop being troublesome and answer me."

"Hn," Sasuke growled. "If you must know, I was getting my fangirls off my back."

"... what was that?"

"Those annoying brats always crowd around me," Sasuke growled. "They're always chatting about me, shrieking loudly, and never giving me space. I can never get the peace and quiet to focus on training."

"Have you tried telling them to leave?"

"It won't work. The only way to fix this is to replace their admiration of me with hatred. Let them no I'm not the second coming of the First Hokage and that I rather have my eyes gouged out than even speak with them."

And given that he's an Uchiha, that's saying a lot.

"What about Hyuuga Hinata?" Shikamaru asked. "She wasn't a fan girl."

"Which makes her a step above the rest of them," Sasuke said in agreement. "But she's just as bad in other ways. She may not be as openly praising as those annoying harpies, but she looks at the deadlast like he's some sort of champion. She needs to rely on her own strength instead of obtaining it from some form of inspiration."

"And what's wrong with that?"

A cold expression covered Sasuke. "There is no point of having an idol to believe in. All they'll do is let you down and hurt you in the most painful way."

Shikamaru blinked. What was that about. But before he could ask more, Sasuke turned around and started to leave.

"Hey, Sasuke!" The Nara called out, causing the Uchiha to turn around in irritation.

"Just want to give you one warning. Something that my dad told me once. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."

Sasuke scoffed. "If they are a threat, then that would mean they actually got their act together."

* * *

One year later.

"Congratulations, all of you," Iruku-sensei said to the newly named Genin. "You are now official Genin of Konoha. Take pride in the mark you wear."

Shikamaru held back a groan at the troubling ceremony. Honestly, there was nothing interesting except for Naruto's surprise passing when he arrived with a Forehead Protector that morning.

"I will now assign you to your teams."

Shikamaru already knows what'll happen. For one thing, he, Choji, and Ino will be placed on the same team to recreate the old Shika-Ino-Cho trio.

"Team Seven will be Nara Shikamaru, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke under Hatake Kakashi."

Wait, what?

"Hang on!" Naruto jumped out of his seat in protest. "Why am I on the same team as the Teme!"

"I find it troublesome to argue, but doesn't Team Seven normally have two boys and one girl," Shikamaru spoke up. "Unless one of you two is secretly a girl."

"Hey, I'm not a girl!" Naruto paused in thought. "There's nothing wrong with being a girl, but I'm definitely a guy!"

"Naruto, the team you were placed on is balanced, with you and the deadlast, Shikamaru with his high IQ but low test scores, and Sasuke as the Rookie of the Year-" He suddenly froze as a burst of killing intent filled the room.

' _What was that?'_ The teacher thought. It felt like enough Killing Intent from a Jounin, yet it felt like it emanated from the room itself. He saw that the other boys felt the same thing, and yet the girls seemed unaffected. Weird.

"A-anyway," Iruku continued. "As for Shikamaru's question, Team Eight will be Hyuuga Hinata, Haruno Sakura, and Yamanaka Ino under Mitarashi Anko. The Lord Hokage was so impressed by the girls improved performance over the last year that he wanted to encourage further growth together."

Did he just announce a team of girls? A team of three girls with a clear vendetta against his new teammate. A team lead by a woman, of whom he heard his father refer to as "The Sadistically Crazy Snake Woman."

Yep, Uchiha Sasuke was fucked now. And more importantly, so were Shikamaru and Naruto.

* * *

"You all understand what we are doing here, correct?" In a small room, three girls wearing black cloaks were standing around a table with a single picture on top.

The two other girls nodded, and the speaker continued. "Our enemy has now become a genin. The adults praise him, calling him 'The Rookie of the Year.'"

One of the girls scoffed while the other clenched her fist.

"But we know he does not deserve such a title. He is nothing but an arrogant punk that looks down at all in his path. Ridiculing our looks, our beliefs, our dreams. But no longer will he mock us. No longer we shall worship like. Instead, we see him as the demon he truly is.

"State your name if you agree."

The first girl removed her hood to reveal short pink hair and a massive forehead. "Haruno Sakura."

The second girl removed her hood to reveal short blue hair and pure white eyes surrounded by bulging veins. "Hyuuga Hinata."

The speaker was the last to remove her hood, revealing short Platinum Blonde hair. "And Yamanaka Ino. We three meet under one common goal."

All three girls raised a kunai into the air and held them above the table. All three shouted "Destroy Sasuke!" before stabbing them into the picture of a black-haired boy with red eyes.


End file.
